What is Montessori?

Montessori Materials

Montessori Material is a general name for teaching aids within the classroom.  It covers specially designed material and teacher made material.  These are produced in accordance to the Montessori principles to meet specific needs.

Montessori designed her didactic materials by observing children.  The quality of the apparatus is taught in isolation so as not to confuse or distract the child.

Montessori was convinced that for the child to be truly drawn in and understand the concept, that the materials are proportioned according to the capabilities of the child, and not distracting by many different colours.

Handing the materials alone can give the child an impression of the quality being taught, i.e. 3D (stereognostic) awareness.

Materials must be appealing, move easily and be easy to handle.  Each set of material should be completed and be housed in its own place on the shelf.

Care of the materials should be maintained by teachers and children.

Each piece of material should prepare the child for the next stage of learning.

Exercises start with knowledge that the child already possesses.  The materials must be presented in sequence in order to keep accurate records.

Materials should have a control of error (self correcting facility).

The child always learns best with concrete materials, before being introduced to abstract.

Montessori 3 period lesson is used for teaching new words, 3 or more can be introduced, depending on the child's ability.

Period 1, isolating a concrete object in front of a child, he is asked to show his knowledge by identifying each object.
Period 2, all objects are placed in front of the child, he is asked to show his knowledge by identifying each object.
Period 3, objects are isolated, the child is asked to name them.